L e s s o n 7

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS AND RELIGIOUS
COMMUNITIES IN GERMAN-AMERICAN LIFE

1. Key personalities

Martin Luther (1483-1546). German theologian, the leader of the Reformation in Germany. The
Lutheran Church, which he founded, became the established church in the north German states.

Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531). One of the chief reformers of the Protestant Reformation in
Switzerland, Zwingli established the Reformation at Zurich.

John Hus (c. 1369-1415). Early religious reformer in Bohemia, executed as a heretic.

John Calvin (1509-1564). French theologian who established the Protestant Reformation at Geneva,
Switzerland. His theological system, known as Calvinism, forms the doctrinal basis of the Reformed
churches.

2. Main trends

The bulk of German immigrants in America have been members of either the Lutheran or Catholic
churches. Due to England's anti- Catholic disposition, there were few German Catholics in America
during the colonial period. But their number increased greatly during the 19th century. German
Protestants belonging to the Lutheran and Reformed churches had begun to arrive in America during
the colonial period.

Many of the German settlers of the colonial period were, however, members of various
nonconformist sects who in many cases fled Europe to escape persecution by the authorities and the
established churches there, whether Protestant or Catholic. Let us now consider in turn some of the
religious denominations in the U.S. which have had strong links to German immigration.

The Catholics

Large numbers of German Catholics, particularly from Austria, Bavaria, Alsace, Baden and the
Rhineland, settled in America during the 19th century and established numerous German-speaking
parishes and parochial schools. Around 1900, some German-speaking priests urged that the Catholic
church in the U.S. ought to be divided up into separately administered ethnic divisions. The issue
had been raised by Peter Paul Cahensly, a Catholic layman in Germany. What added fuel to the
controversy was the feeling among many German-American Catholics that the interests of their
parishes were being neglected by a church hierarchy in which the Irish seemed to enjoy a favored
position. The issue was largely resolved by the general decline in the use of German in American
churches following World War I. There are, of course, no doctrinal differences between German
Catholics and other Catholics.

The Lutherans

The mass of German-speaking immigrants who came to America in colonial times were Lutherans.
The House of Hanover, which ruled England, was a German dynasty with strong ties to the
Continent. Most of the Lutherans who came to America at that time were from northern Germany.
Others, like the Salzburgers, were Protestant refugees from the predominantly Catholic south.

The Lutherans in Germany have maintained a largely unified church. The situation in the U.S. is
quite different, and the Lutherans here are divided into a number of competing churches and synods.
Some of these divisions are due to differences in national origin between German and Scandinavian
Lutherans, but some divisions involve doctrinal issues. The Missouri Synod, originally formed by
German settlers in Missouri, has a reputation of leaning in the direction of conservativism. The
Lutheran Church in America, formed in 1962 by a merger of German and Scandinavian groups is
the largest Lutheran church in the U.S.

The Reformed Churches

During the course of the Reformation the Protestant camp split into two major groups. On the one
hand there were the followers of Martin Luther, whose church became dominant in the north of
Germany, Scandinavia, Latvia, and Estonia. The other group of Protestants were the Reformed
faction, whose movement originated in Switzerland and followed the course set by such reformers
as Calvin and Zwingli. The Reformed Church later took root in Holland and, as Presbyterians, in
Scotland. The Huguenots in France were also a part of the Calvinist movement.

Although the Lutheran Church predominated in northern Germany after the Reformation, there was
also a Reformed Church there. The Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Prussia were merged in the
1820s. In the U.S. the denomination known as the Evangelical and Reformed Church came into
existence in 1934, representing a merger of German Calvinists and German Lutherans. Especially
in rural communities of the 19th century, it was not uncommon for some time to have united
"Lutherisch und Reformierte" congregations. In 1957 the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged
with the Congregational Christian Churches to form the United Church of Christ.

Anabaptist Sects

The term Anabaptist seems to have been coined by the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, who was no
friend to the movement. There are today three surviving Anabaptist sects: The Mennonites, the
Amish, and the Hutterites. The Mennonites, who can still be found in Europe as well as America,
are the largest Anabaptist group. The Amish, originally a dissident Mennonite sect, are a much
smaller group. The Hutterites, numbering only about 16,000, are the smallest. All three groups are
characterized by distinctive dress and a society which prefers to keep its distance from the outside
world. They all insist on farming as their principal occupation. The Hutterites are distinguished by
the fact that their settlements are communitarian in character with all property held in common.

The Mennonites originated in Switzerland in opposition to the Protestant Church which had been
established at Zurich by Ulrich Zwingli. Another early center of the Mennonite movement was in
Holland. The most important early leader of the Mennonites was Menno Simons, after whom the
sect was named. Large numbers of Mennonites migrated to Russia and to Pennsylvania during the
colonial period and later established settlements in other parts of the U.S. and Canada, particularly
in Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario. During the late 19th century a new wave of German-speaking
Mennonites arrived from Russia after their liberties there had been revoked. They settled on the
Great Plains, particularly in frontier Kansas, and became leading pioneers in agriculture. Like the
other Anabaptist denominations, the Mennonites are opposed to military service. They have no
objection to higher education, however, and there are several well-established Mennonite colleges,
the oldest being Bethel College in Newton, KS. Goshen College in Goshen, IN is notable for its
extensive archive of documents dealing with Mennonite history.

The Amish also originated in Switzerland but soon spread to Alsace. The founder of the sect, Jacob
Ammann, was a Mennonite minister who caused a schism in the church over the issue of
excommunication and avoidance of excommunicated persons.

The Hutterites, or Hutterian Brethren, began in the Tyrol of western Austria. Jacob Hutter, an
important early leader of the sect, was burned as a heretic in Austria. The Hutterites sought refuge
in Russia during the 18th century but decided to leave when a new military conscription law in 1872
threatened their traditional opposition to military service. Like the Mennonites in Russia they chose
to emigrate to America and take up a new existence on the harsh western frontier.

These three Anabaptist groups are portrayed in a superb multimedia program [available also in
German] at the Menno-Hof Center in Shipshewana, IN.

Moravians

The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Christian branches and was established in 1458, years
before the time of the general Protestant Reformation. The church was known originally as the
Unitas Fratrum (Unity of the Brethren) and is sometimes called the Moravian Brethren. A group of
them who left Bohemia and Moravia during the early 18th century found refuge in Saxony on the
estate of Count von Zinzendorf, who became a bishop of their church. It was he who led a group
of Moravians to Pennsylvania, where they established settlements at Bethlehem, Nazareth, and
Lititz. A huge painting at the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, "David Zeisberger Preaching the
Gospel to the Indians," is a reminder of the Moravians' extensive mission work among Indian tribes.
Members of the sect have long taken a particular interest in music, both choral and instrumental, and
their music festivals have received national attention.

German Baptists

The Baptists in the U.S. are divided into a number of conferences. One of these, now known as the
North American Baptist Conference, was organized between 1840 and 1851 by scattered German
Baptist congregations. They now number about 57,000 members. Although they have their own
theological seminary in Rochester, NY, their theological position is much the same as that of other
Baptists.

The Church of the Brethren (Dunkers)

The word "dunker" is derived from the German verb "tunken" (to immerse). One of the central
tenets of this sect is that baptism must be done by full immersion three times. The movement grew
out of German Pietism. The Pietists were German Protestants of the 18th century who, like the
English Puritans, stressed simplicity of dress, manners, and worship. The Dunkers, who wear
distinctive dress, settled in Pennsylvania in colonial times and are now divided into several separate
denominations.

The Schwenkfelder Church

This church was founded by Caspar Schwenkfelder von Ossig (1498-1561), a nobleman from Silesia
who was raised as a Catholic but eagerly joined the Protestant Reformation. Members of this sect
began to arrive in America in 1734 and settled near Philadelphia. They are a small denomination
which has completely disappeared in Europe and has only a few thousand members in the U.S.

The Jews

The first Jews to reach America were a small group of Portuguese Jews who came by way of Brazil.
By the 18th century, however, significant numbers of German-speaking Jews had begun to settle in
America. Most of the Jews in America in mid-19th century appear to have come from a
German-speaking background.

Reform Judaism is a movement which began in Germany during the early 19th century. German
Jews in 19th-century America took a lead in fostering the movement in the U.S. Isidor Kalisch
(1816-1886), a political refugee of the 1848 Revolution, became an influential Reform rabbi in the
U.S. Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) was a native of Bohemia whose name was originally Weis.
Immigrating to the U.S. in 1846 he settled in Cincinnati, where he founded the Hebrew Union
College and a national conference of Reformed rabbis. At the end of the 19th century, however,
there was a new wave of Jewish immigration, this time from eastern Europe. The new immigrants
spoke Yiddish, originally a German dialect, and belonged to the Orthodox rather than the Reform
branch of Judaism. By 1900 there was a class difference between the affluent, well educated, and
progressively minded German Jews and the newer Jewish immigrants. As the new wave of
immigrants gained in status these social distinctions tended to disappear. Conservative Judaism,
which has gained in importance in recent years, tends to strike a balance between the traditionalism
of Orthodox Judaism and the assimilationist tendencies of the Reform movement.

The 1930s and 1940s brought a new wave of Jewish immigrants from Germany - exiles from Hitler.
Most of them were middle class and many were professionals who have made signal contributions
to American culture. The Leo Baeck Institute in New York preserves an extensive archival
collection of documents pertaining to the immigration of German Jewish refugees to the U.S. during
the Hitler era.

The Ethical Culture Society

The Ethical Culture Society regards itself as a religious denomination and in many ways functions
as a church. Nevertheless, it does not consider a belief in God to be one of its tenets. The society
was founded in New York in 1876 by Felix Adler (1851-1933), who was brought to the U.S. from
Germany in 1857. Adler, a professor of political and social ethics at Columbia University, came
from a Jewish background.

Freethinkers/Freidenker

Many Germans in the 19th century could not accept the churches' transcendentalism, religious
dogmatism, and the antidemocratic alliance between throne and altar. Instead, they prefered to construct their world view on the basis of the natural sciences, the antispeculative/materialistic
philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach, with man in the center of things. For their private and public
conduct freethinkers developed rigorous ethical standards drawing largely from philosopher
Immanuel Kant, and the classical authors Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing. The contemporary writer Kurt Vonnegut, born in Indianapolis, is proud of his
German freethinker family tradition.